Baseball's Best Pen Melts Down

I guess it should have kept on raining.

The best bullpen in baseball had its worst game of the season last night. A 10-1 lead went down the drain in the last two innings, as Baltimore scored five in the seventh and five more in the eighth to win, 11-10. Everyone who followed John Smoltz was terrible. This game reminded me of June 4, 1989, a game where the Sox had a 10-0 lead after six innings against Toronto at Fenway, and wound up losing 13-11 in 12 innings.

It was awful but not the end of the world.

A number of things to keep in mind while trying to shake off this mess.

John Smoltz pitched four solid innings, and would have gone on longer had it not been for the 71-minute rain delay.

The Red Sox have a game on Wednesday afternoon, just hours after this terrible game ended, so they can get right back on the field and go forward. A win on Wednesday will cushion the blow of tonight considerably.

Josh Beckett, who has been sensational the last month, takes the mound, and surely won't be in a giving mood.

The Red Sox are 2 1/2 games up, as New York won last night.

The Sox can take yet another road series with a win on Wednesday.

The best bullpen can have bad nights. The Sox pen has been simply superb this year. But hopefully nothing like Tuesday night again. I hope they have a collective drink, shake it off, and come out slugging on Wednesday.

And of course, keep in mind this meltdown happened on June 30th, not in the month of October. It's not like they just blew a 3-0 ALCS lead...